Work

AI models for demographic prediction in e-commerce: age and gender from initial user interactions

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: This research investigates the feasibility of inferring key demographic features, specifically gender and age, from analyzing the performance of fundamental interactive tasks by anonymous users of an e-commerce site. A dataset of interaction patterns from 592 volunteers, encompassing tasks such as Point & Click, Drag & Drop, Text Selection, Text Editing , and Menu Item Selection , was collected and analyzed. Various artificial intelligence (AI) models were trained to identify predictive correlations between task execution times and user demographics. Rigorous evaluation using metrics like Area Under the Curve of the Precision-Recall Curve (AUC-PR) demonstrated the models’ efficacy in automatic user profiling, revealing the potential for highly accurate gender determination and age group estimation. These findings highlight the significant potential of AI to create systems for automatically inferring user demographics from initial interactions, enabling dynamic and personalized e-commerce experiences that enhance customer perception and potentially increase revenue.

Source: PeerJ Computer Science

DOI: 10.7717/peerj-cs.3563

Authors: Javier De Andrés, Daniel Fernandez-Lanvin, Martin Gonzalez-Rodriguez, Beatriz Pariente-Martinez

Institution: Universidad de Oviedo

Language: English

Topic: User Authentication and Security Systems

Subfield: Information Systems

Field: Computer Science

Domain: Physical Sciences

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $1,395

Funders: Gobierno del Principado de Asturias, Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades, European Regional Development Fund